The Flip Side: Break Free of the Behaviors That Hold You Back by Flip Flippen
What a refreshing book to read. Dr. Flip Flippen is a psychologist, and head of the Flippen Group, whose mission statement, "We grow people," says it all. They specialize in helping corporations and businesses cultivate a culture of self-respect and affirming teamwork, which really resonated with me because I found their philosophy was very similar to what we do on our AVP teams. Dr. Flippen coaches CEO's, tech moguls, and more importantly, individual families on how to bring out the best in their circle of friends and loved ones.
This book concentrated on what Dr. Flippen termed Overcoming Personal Constraints, or OPC. The OPC philosophy was based on his belief that real success demands more than talent and ability. He further defined real success as, "...being known to improve the lives of those you touch." And with that definition, Dr. Flippen began to put forward his theory on what a personal constraint was. He gave a great example of two clients of his in the inner city, who both had similar talents and abilities, who both faced the same challenges and struggles, yet, ten years later, one had completed law school, and the other was in prison for killing somebody — so what was the difference? Dr. Flippen felt it was the latter's personal constraint, a personality defect of sorts, which was not addressed or alleviated.
Personal constraints, according to Dr. Flippen, help to bridge the gap between Personality Theory and Strengths Theory, both of which I am quite familiar with. Personality Theory emphasizes that our personalities are static, and do not change over time. Strengths Theory is what The Gallup Organization's hiring process is based on, where they believe that a person's innate strengths are what a person should concentrate on developing, and not focus on personality weaknesses. OPC, on the other hand, encourages us to face those personality weaknesses so we can diminish them in ourselves, so that our inborn talents and abilities can then flourish.
Reading the book was quite affirming to me, because it helped to reinforce my own personal journey so far. Like Dr. Flippen, I believe each person has a tremendous ability to make positive (or negative) changes in their lives, and it all depends on the many choices they make each day. For myself, I believe I have only been able grow and become a much better human being because I started to address my own personal constraints, and look forward to polishing and refining my mind and soul even further.
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